June 9, 2011

Ever since I started Yummy Supper, I have wanted to do a post on my love of omelets, which may just be my favorite meal for lunch, breakfast, or dinner for that matter. You can stuff them with greens, mushrooms, asparagus, crab, cheese, or keep it light and simple with just a bit of herbs. My mom has always made incredible omelets and she taught me her ways when I was a teenager. People can be quite opinionated about the "right" way to make an omelet. I'm not so sure I buy into dogmas, but I do know that this is an omelet I love - the eggs are nice and fluffy, while the inside is tender and filled with goodies.

3 tablespoon butter (1 for cooking the spinach + 2 more tablespoons for cooking the eggs)

4 tablespoons crumbled feta

4 large or 6 small eggs

salt

pepper

First, prep all of your ingredients for filling. In a large saute pan, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil with 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat until bubbling. Add chili, garlic, and shallots. Cook a minute or two until everything starts to soften. Add the washed spinach leaves (we used beautiful water spinach - an ubiquitous ingredient in Bali - but any spinach would be wonderful.) Stir to coat. Saute until tender. Remove cooked spinach from heat and set aside to cool a bit. When the spinach is cool enough to handle, squeeze out any excess water. (If you don't, you'll end up with a sad, watery omelet.) Rough chop spinach and separate into 2 piles. Set aside.

Crumble feta. Set up two equal sized piles of cheese (2 tablespoons each).

Most people who regularly cook omelets have a pan they use just for this purpose. A little well-seasoned cast iron pan with rounded sides is my favorite at home in California. In Bali, where we made omelets at least once a week for lunch, we used a non-stick pan and it worked just fine.

In a small mixing bowl, thoroughly whisk 2 large, or 3 small, eggs. Add a pinch of salt (you may not need any salt at all if your feta is really salty), a few grinds from the pepper mill, and a splash of water. Whisk to integrate.

Here's the way my mom taught me, and this is the method I will pass on to my kids. I hope you like it too!

All of the cooking happens in a number of minutes so be patient with yourself if you are new to cooking omelets.....

Warm pan over medium heat. Plop in a tablespoon of butter. Tilt pan to coat all sides with the butter. When butter is hot and the bubbling has slowed, pour in eggs. Again, tilt the pan to spread the eggs evenly over the bottom of the pan.

When the eggs begin to cook, and big bubbles form, start the technique I show in the photos below: Use a wooden spoon to pull back the eggs from the side of the pan, then tilt the pan letting the runny egg fill the void....

Do this in three or four places until you have a nice, rumpled surface....

Then add cheese....

Then spinach....

Then flip that omelet out of the pan and you are ready to eat.

Enjoy!

Makes 2 omelets.

Travel note: We made it to the Greek Islands - so dreamy, yet completely different from Bali. Will have photos to share soon...

I'm with you on that one! this is our Sunday brunch treat, often... and we love to play with all kinds of ingredients! mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, cheese, pancetta....yum! I think my stomach is growling now. :D

One of the first people E taught this technique to was me. I went from the sort of person who thought omeletes were just those gross things floating in oil available at brunch buffets. Now I know the truth. Omelets are perfect food. I do miss our beautiful Bali water spinach.

I love omelets, too. In fact, it's probably the first thing I learned how to make as a kid, by watching my Dad make them on Sunday mornings. What I love about omelets is they are so versatile -- you can stuff them with just about anything and enjoy them any time day or night.

For years I hadn't eaten an omelet (which I used to love) but had a VERY bad experience when dining out at Lake Tahoe in my 20's. I won't go into it. But lately I have been hankering for omelet. I have been slowly preparing myself...in the gluten free world finding a non milk, melting cheese is almost non existent. I finally found one and so I am going to give it another whirl myself.I agree, omelets are so versatile and yummy and you can almost put anything in them. I love spinach and that's what has inspired me. I probably need the iron anyway. Wonderful pictures, you tell a great story with them. Can''t wait to see a recipe from Greece with something to wrap in fig leaves! Have fun.

Jenn - such a sweet note. I have to say how lucky you are to come from such a beautiful part of the world. We miss Indonesia already!

Oli - Always good to hear from you! I hope you will try an omelet even without cheese. What about stuffed with tons of herbs, spinach and mushrooms. I am thinking that keeping the eggs a little soft may give you that creaminess you crave. Just a thought. And I will get to work on a good Greek recipe for you. The food is so so good here!

I eat eggs pretty much once a day, either for breakfast, lunch, (or dinner if my boyfriend is working evenings). Omlettes are amazing! I am never tired of them. Esp when they have cheese.. any kind of cheese

I also love omelettes for any meal! My favorite: put some red onions in the pan first until they star to brown, then make omelette with said onions, Italian sausage, a blend of different colored peppers, and a white shredded cheese (or two).

Or sometimes for dinner I make a pizza omelette (pepperoni, peppers, mozzarella) or a Mexican omelette (Monterrey Jack and Cheddar, beef, onions, salsa, with guacamole on the side).

Eggs are an incredibly versatile food, and omelettes one of the best representations thereof!

your blog is so beautiful and inspirational. Loved every posts and your style of photography is amazing. I have a love affair with omelets too and for me its always a hit and miss for the perfect omelet, I am going to try to replicate your moms method :)

My dad always makes me cheese and ham omelettes and they taste AMAZING! The cheese just melts in your mouth and the ham adds that extra flavour. I am now following in his footsteps and making my own! ^-^